Interactive and Communicative Skills of Grade 9 Students of a Public Secondary School: Basis for Proposed Teaching Strategies

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Being communicative and interactive in the use of language especially in the 21st century is indeed an achievement. In the Philippines where English is the second language, someone who speaks the language fluently and confidently somehow has an edge, among others. As a language teacher, the primary goal is to aid students for them to develop language competence. However, this could never be achieved if the interaction between and among students is very minimal so as if the communicative skills are beyond poor. The study aimed to determine the interactive and communicative skills of Grade 9 students of Wenceslao Trinidad National High School.

METHODS

The study utilized the descriptive and quantitative methods of research. The respondents of the study were 200 grade 9 students who were randomly chosen through stratified random sampling. The instrument used was lifted from a queendom.com and goalminds.com, both electronic references. Data were gathered through a survey personally conducted by the researcher. The statistical measures used included the weighted mean, Pearson R, T-Test, and Chi-Square.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that most of the respondents were female. More so, it revealed that the communicative skill of grade nine student respondents is satisfactory, while their interactive skills are very satisfactory. In addition, there was a significant relationship that exists between the respondents' profile and their interactive skills. However, there was no significant relationship that exists between the respondents' communicative skills and their profile. More so, there was a significant relationship between the communicative and interactive skills of students.

DISCUSSIONS

The students must enhance their communicative skills even better so that they will not be left out in terms of communication, this 21st century. More so, they must be both interactive and communicative competent regardless of their gender. Furthermore, they must know the dos and don'ts of interaction so as communication. Both are essential and could be used every day, much even in the future. Some teaching strategies are suggested to address students' need for the development of their communicative and interactive skills. This intervention program focuses on the activities anchored on the use of the Constructivism, Collaborative (2C), Integrative, Inquiry-Based (2I), Reflective (1R) Approaches in teaching English effectively.